The Latest from Americans United

We’ve yet to devour our Thanksgiving turkeys, but our friends in the Religious Right are already itching to gin up this year’s claims of a “war on Christmas." Liberty Counsel, a group of fundamentalist Christian attorneys, published its annual “Naughty and Nice Retail List” to punish retailers who fail to appropriately recognize Christmas.

“The Religious Liberty Task Force is yet another example of how the Religious Right wields unprecedented authority within the Trump-Pence administration,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “To make matters worse, the DOJ is operating this task force behind closed doors without any oversight by the American people. That is unacceptable.”

Although RFRA is still sometimes used for good – like protecting Sikh soldiers barred by Army regulations from serving their country while wearing their articles of faith – it is now too often exploited to justify discrimination and other harms to others.

AU demanded that the Department of Justice (DOJ) divulge records that reveal the circumstances and the people involved in the creation of the so-called Religious Liberty Task Force – a murky unit within DOJ that was launched by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in July.